September in review: A massive crocodile and Gibson Guitars’ disingenuous PR campaign

A post about the giant crocodile captured in the Philippines was the most popular article on mongabay.com’s news section during the month of September. The 21-foot (6.4-meter) saltwater crocodile was captured in Agusan del Sur wetland on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao after a three-week hunt following the disappearance of a farmer in the town of Bunawan. The giant croc will be kept at a nature park in Bunawan, where it is expected to be the star attraction among other wildlife found in the marsh. The crocodile is believed to be the biggest ever captured, exceeding a 5.48-meter (18-foot) male which lives at a zoo in Australia.

The croc post was followed by a more substantive article about an oil palm plantation under development in Cameroon. Developed over a six-month period, a more concise version of Palm oil, poverty, and conservation collide in Cameroon first appeared on Yale e360. The project is controversial due to its location and the involvement of an NGO linked to the developer. But the plantation could bring economic activity to an otherwise impoverished region.

Gibson Guitars’ ongoing public relations campaign against an investigation conducted under the Lacey Act also continued to be a popular story. Gibson Guitars’ CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has become a darling of the Tea Party by claiming political motivations for a federal investigation into allegations of illegal timber trafficking by his company. According to a criminal complaint, Gibson Guitars was aware that it was sourcing wood from a “grey” market: Madagascar. Other instrument markers avoided Madagascar for that very reason.

A review of more than 100 studies on biodiversity in old-growth tropical forests emphasized the importance of conserving untouched rainforests. The paper, published in Nature, found consistently that biodiversity level were substantially lower in disturbed forests.

Finally an interview about e-waste in Ghana rounded out the top five most popular news stories for the month.